Tuesday, 29 July 2014

Collaborating effectively: the 'Inverted Tardis Principle'

I recently
listened to a short talk by Stephen Robertson (CEO of 'The Big Issue', a social
enterprise business that helps homeless people into work). Many aspects of what
he had to say made an impression on me, but one very simple thing stuck in my mind. He said that
even though The Big Issue was a well-known organisation with large coverage and
influence it was, in terms of its core administration and people, quite a
small concern. This
characteristic of being an inverted version of Dr Who’s Tardis, of being ‘large
on the outside’, in terms of reach, reputation, influence, etc., but ‘small on
the inside’, in terms of people and resources and/or the way the organisation
is internally organised, segmented or shaped, is a characteristic of many collaborative
initiatives or, like The Big Issue, single organisations that need to collaborate
to get things done. For example
the Hurley Group, a multi-practice partnership offering health services, has
made itself ‘bigger on the outside’ by partnering with 18 general practices in
10 London Boroughs. Its significant presence within London has helped it increase
its profile and influence and the scope and quality of its work, so enhancing
the health services available to its 100,000 registered patients. By building
relationships and working collaboratively with the wide range of complementary agencies,
authorities and social enterprises it overlaps, intersects with and lies beside,
the multi-practice has been able to offer new and innovative services in a wide
range of areas. These include asylum seeker and substance misuse services,
school health and anti-bullying education, and initiatives that seek to address
the wider social and community issues impacting upon health and wellbeing.By making
itself ‘smaller on the inside’ through cutting out duplication of resources and
sharing administrative support services, medical facilities and equipment, the
multi-practice has been able to deliver its services more efficiently. Also, by
minimising its management layers and making its internal organisational
segments small scale and local, the multi-practice has been able, consistent
with its aims and purpose, to empower GPs to take responsibility for their
localities and make decisions and take actions that benefit their patients. Keeping the
organisational structure small scale and locally segmented, based upon the size of a traditional GP practice, encourages the multi-practice's
GPs to engage meaningfully with patients, develop productive relationships with
complementary local groups, agencies and businesses, and identify and take
advantage of the synergies and opportunities that arise as a result. It also
reassures the local population that medical resources have been allocated to
their area and that these can be accessed as and when needed and, importantly, accessed via a human face. In short, by
creating a small scale segmented internal organisational structure focused upon
localities, the multi-practice has created protected spaces which, whilst
remaining part of the greater tapestry of the partnership, allow those
working within them to think and act in ways best suited to the localities
served. Large global organisations, such as the United Nations Development Programme, work in a similar way. They are large on the
outside, with gigantic recognition and presence, which allows them to engage
with and be open to many influences and potential sources of knowledge,
experience, expertise and resources. In terms of their intrinsic internal organisational
structures, however, they tend to favour regional or local projects that have
their own ring-fenced resources and, importantly, recognisable and accessible
human faces. As with the Hurley Group example
given above, this encourages those working within the projects to engage with the
local population and complementary local agencies and groups. It also, again as per the
above example, provides the space within which local managers, workers and
volunteers can feel empowered to take advantage of the synergies and opportunities that emerge
from their developing local relationships. (And once again, keeping things regional and local reassures people that they have not been forgotten and that their needs are being addressed.)So, if you
are developing a collaborative initiative or working within an organisation
that relies on collaboration to get things done, be guided by the Inverted
Tardis Principle. Strive to be ‘big on the outside’ in terms of coverage,
presence and influence, but work hard atkeeping things ‘small on the inside’ in terms of use of resources, organisational
structure and segmentation. If you do this you will, as shown by the examples
given above, give your collaborative efforts the best chance of achieving their
goals and realising their potential.

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